Country: United Kingdom
Key Area: Transportation
Services: Road Safety,Traffic Modelling

Opus provided the engineering and transportation services to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (council) for Westfield’s new development at White City, London. The Westfield development at White City is one of Europe’s largest with an estimated construction cost of £1.75Billion.

The development includes new ‘multi-modal’ transport facilities that incorporate two new bus terminals, two new underground rail stations, a new overland railway station, a car parking facility for 4,500 vehicles and localised highway improvement works.

Opus’s initial involvement with the Westfield development was in the preparation and agreement, in conjunction with the Council’s legal team, of Section 278 Highway agreements for £12Million of associated highway works. Opus peer reviewed the transport assessment for the Westfield Development to confirm the development’s impact on the surrounding network and to identify necessary improvements to the highway infrastructure.

The work also included road safety auditing, assessment of proposed cycle and pedestrian facilities and development of a Variable Messaging System (VMS) related to the car park management.

Due to the scale of the project and pressures on Council resources, Opus provided staff ranging from technicians to senior engineers, on secondment directly to the council, to provide essential client support in design and management of highway improvements, safety and traffic management schemes as well as maintenance and asset management functions for the development.

These direct employees of Opus were based within the authority and formed an integral part of the Council’s engineering teams. Our engineers assisted the Council in negotiations with planners, designers, conservation officers and architects to ensure a holistic approach to the design of the highways works.

In representing the Council, Opus project managed the Highways Woks at the White City site. Opus also liaised with Westfield and their consultants, TfL, together with the neighbouring Borough's on related Highways and environmental aspects of the development.

Close supervision, coordination with all affected parties with continual negotiations were required to complete the required highway works to the highest adoptable standard.